Page 4 of Season's Greetings
The lift doors opened, revealing his brother’s festive makeover in all it’s sparkly gaudiness.
“Wow, when did Santa move here from the North Pole?”
A giggle of laughter answered his grumbling reply. Wonderful. Yet another person having fun at his expense.
Christmas was only a couple of weeks away, and he couldn’t wait for it to be over so his life could return to normal.
Pushing down a rising sense of irritation, Daniel directed Carson to the conference room—the same roomthat held a lingering hint of Claudia’s scent. Which did nothing to soothe his already sparked temper.
The next shifter to poke his bear was going to get a chewing out.
Letting out a long sigh, he mentally counted to twenty before easing his six-foot-five muscular frame behind the oval conference table and leveling his gaze on the omega.
“My brother has a tendency to get carried away when he’s decorating. Now tell me—just how long has Ms. Williams been threatening you?”
Carson’s melodic voice faded in his ears as his focus drifted to a different time, a different place, and a different omega. One with amber eyes.
The conference room door bursting open jolted him back to the present.
His growl of irritation at being disturbed died in his throat the moment he turned his gaze on the intruder.
Had he summoned the omega merely by thinking about him?
The words fell from his lips before his brain could catch up.
“Matthew… why are you here?”
“Oh, thank the stars, Daniel—I need your help!”
Chapter 3
Daniel
The conference room melted away, replaced by a different time, a different place, and a different omega—one with amber eyes.
Bright sunlight had made the lighter strands of Matthew’s hair look like spun gold. Daniel couldn’t look away. Was it as soft as it looked? His fingers had itched to touch it. He’d wondered what Matthew would do if he reached out and swept the strands back from his face. Would he knock his hand away? Or turn and run?
Getting unsanctioned attention from an alpha from another pack was frowned upon—even if that alpha was a star jock, captain of the college football team, and class president. The fact that Daniel was a bear and Matthew a jackal was reason enough for him to shy away.
But Daniel had seen him around campus, watching when he thought no one noticed. As if Daniel wouldn’t notice a stunning omega like him. He would’ve had to be blind—and even then, there was no mistaking Matthew’s scent. One sniff, and Daniel was a goner. His bear had wanted to rub all over him, marking him as his.
Every spare moment when Daniel wasn’t studying or on the field, he was thinking of Matthew. The day Matthewjoined his chemistry class and asked to be lab partners was the best—and worst—day of his life. As soon as their eyes met, Daniel knew his life would never be the same.
And he’d been right.
He went from being a rule-following, mindful member of the sleuth to one who broke curfew just to meet up with an omega from a rival pack. Not just any pack—Golden Jackals. He’d reasoned with himself: why bother trying to sleep when he’d just lie awake thinking of Matthew? The way his sweet smile curved his full lips. The way his amber eyes sparkled with mirth and mischief. The graceful way he walked.
His brain had happily replayed every detail.
It became harder to control his body’s reaction to Matthew’s closeness. He’d rubbed one off so many times in the shower that he got hard in the rain. That year, it seemed to rain a lot. He was amazed he hadn’t ended up with more than just arm ache and calluses.
Well, that’s what he told himself. The truth was far different.
Daniel had learned fast that an alpha didn’t always get what they wanted. Not when the Council and pack elders colluded to arrange political marriages of alliance. Omegas didn’t get a say—not omegas like Carson, and certainly not omegas like Matthew.
That was why when Daniel set up his legal firm, he specialized in pack law. So that one day, things would change.
A familiar tingle raced down his spine—the same one he used to get whenever Matthew was nearby.
